


to those who cannot love gently

by silverfoxflower



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Character Study, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Gen, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28268199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverfoxflower/pseuds/silverfoxflower
Summary: 5 times Megaera was too rough
Relationships: Magaera & Dusa (Hades Video Game), Megaera & Persephone (Hades Video Game), Megaera/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 76
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	to those who cannot love gently

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brella/gifts).



> Please enjoy this treat!!

1\. 

They could fly, her sisters, but she could not. 

There they went, the flit of their wings loud in the darkness. The echoing of Alecto's laughter, Tisiphone's muttering, disappearing as they left her behind. Alone. Megaera clutched her small chest and shuddered. If she was quiet. If she was quiet and obedient, then mother would return to their nest and touch Megaera's cheek with her long cold fingers and razor-sharp nails. 

When they returned, Megaera was curled on her side, breathing shallowly as she slept in fits and starts. 

"We're baaaack," Alecto's voice slithered in Megaera's ear, and suddenly she found herself yanked up by her arm, wide-eyed as Alecto dangled a rat before her face. "Hunting wasn't too fruitful today, runt. This is your dinner tonight." 

Megaera screwed up her face, but Alecto kept _pushing_ and _pushing_ , the sound of her laughter shredding Megaera's control. And there Tisiphone stood, saying nothing, doing nothing. With a shriek, Megaera launched herself at Alecto, who unfurled her wings in surprise. Megaera could not remember much of what happened next. The taste of blood on her teeth. A ringing in her ears. The membrane of Alecto's small, vulnerable wings shredding under fingernails. 

Alecto screamed, flailed back and out of their nest. With a gasp, Megaera followed after her, seeing her sister disappear into the darkness, heard her flap of her wings, her cries, her fall. Then silence. 

"Y... you," Tisiphone said in a small, dry voice. 

"Tisiphone, no," Megaera begged. "I didn't mean-" 

"You _m...murdered_ her!" Tisiphone screamed, diving out of the nest. She dropped something as she did so, something wet and heavy that flopped at Megaera's small feet. 

A fish, carefully portioned for three.

2\. 

She stood before the Mother of Night in a dirty shift and scraped knees, defiant even as she trembled. 

"Feral little thing," the boy swore, cradling his bloodied hand against his chest. He glanced up at his mother, his white hair falling into his eyes. "Honestly, when the cook complained about missing food, I expected rats." 

The Mother of Night reached out her gentle hands, her hair as the dark of the void, her voice as the velvet of the deep. "Now," she said softly as she lowered herself to look Megaera in the eye. "Where is your brood, child?" 

3\. 

"Girl," the Queen said, "have you time to work?" 

"I ..." Megaera blinked, her heart thudding in her chest. 

She was like no one Megaera had ever met, this Queen. In the gloom of Tartarus, her hair held the color of the sun. She had brought with her the sweetness of life, the scent of a world Megaera would never know. The shades drifted towards her like moths to the light, the edges of their essence fluttering just to be near her. Cerberus, the feared gate-keeper of Hades, gamboled and wagged his at her presence, making the entire court shake with his excitement. Even Nyx reserved a soft, secret expression for when the Queen laughed. 

Megaera did not know what to make of her own infatuation. She dreamed of cracking her chest open and handing the Queen her heart like a peeled pomegranate. 

"What a question," the Queen muttered ruefully to herself. "I suppose it's _all_ you have time for, down here. You should hear them tell of it on Olympus, the prospect of _work_ such a horror to them." She gave Megaera a brisk smile. "What I _mean_ is, would you care to help me with my garden today? Dusa said you were a quick study." 

"I would, Queen Persephone," Megaera said quickly, then, "But ... I am under orders from Lord Hades-" 

"Don't worry about him," the Queen said, flapping her hand. "Tell me your name, girl." She began walking and Megaera followed. 

"It is Megaera, my Queen." 

"Please call me Persephone. I've noticed that you don't use titles with each other," the Queen said, "Just with Hades and I. Is it something that he mandated?" 

Megaera shrugged helplessly. "I do not know. I simply follow the convention. Nyx is my ... well she is family to us all."

The Queen inclined her head, glancing at Megaera curiously. 

Megaera looked around her with wonder as they entered the cavern. In the dark of Tartarus ... sprouts of green, twisting towards the smoky lantern light. The dank smell that permeated the rest of the palace was carried away here by the cool, gentle breeze that brought air from high above. Nyx's favor, do doubt. 

"I shouldn't have called it a garden," the Queen said, putting her hands on her hips. "It hardly holds a candle to my mother's work … or my own, back on the surface."

"I didn't know anything like this could grow here," Megaera said. 

"I'm not so sure myself," the Queen said dryly. "Here," she said, handing Megaera a stack of clay pots. 

Megaera labored for her diligently, listening with interest when she spoke of the plants in her garden, their needs, their quirks. The gentle smile on her face when she considered them … like they were her own children. 

"Take this,” the Queen said, handing Megaera a vivid purple flower with a dark center. An anemone, the Queen had called it earlier, with a wistful smile. 

“Where should I put it?” Megaera asked.

The Queen laughed. “It’s for you, as thanks for your work here today.” 

“Oh,” Megaera said, “I …” _I can’t possibly care for this_. “I thank you.” 

How delicate this being was, its petals so thin they were almost translucent, its leaves no larger than Megaera’s smallest finger. She fetched it water from the Styx and hid it in the safest place she knew, but within days it withered and died, its vivid petals turned to powder. 

Shameful, Megaera thought, these hands of hers made only to rend, to destroy rather than nurture. After that, she could no longer face the Queen, and never again visited her garden. 

4\. 

“Oh,” Zagreus said, as Megaera pushed him roughly against the wall. 

“Silence,” Megaera was frustrated with the pretty Prince, his easy charm, his stammering infatuation. The way he made her _want_. She would warn him to stay away from her, but … he would listen. 

So she kissed him. Tasted the blood on his lip, raked her nails down her back and made him whimper, made him scream as he came for her. And still he begged her for more, told her that he could take it all, take all of her. 

Looked at her with those soft eyes, like she was made of something more than teeth and metal and shaking anger. 

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” she yanked on her clothes, feeling more frustrated than when she began. “I won’t be coming back.” 

5\. 

Dusa was gushing about the Prince again, and it was annoying Megaera in a way she could not explain. 

“... he asked if could _help_! Of course I said no, how shameful for his Majesty to stoop to such things, but wasn’t it _kind_ of him to offer-” 

“ _Dusa_ ,” Megaera rubbed her temples. “Please. I’m tired of hearing about him.” 

Dusa seemed to shrink. “Of … of course. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, it’s probably annoying to hear me talk so much-” 

“It’s not that,” Megaera said quickly, “I love hearing you talk. It’s … it’s him. I can’t really stand him.” She knew it was a mistake as soon as the words left her lips. Nothing could ever remain a secret in this small, tedious court. Even now, the shades were turning to her with interest, their dark, empty hoods flickering. 

The snakes in Dusa’s hair rippled with curiosity. “W-why? Did his Majesty say something to you?” 

“I …” Megaera shook her head. “He’s selfish. Irresponsible. The fights he packs with Lord Hades make things difficult for everyone, but they still coddle him! He’s worked for nothing his entire life, Dusa. I just … I just can’t stand how everything is handed to him on a platter!” 

Megaera took Dusa’s silence for disapproval until she saw her expression, followed the line of her eye with a sinking heart. 

“Sorry,” Zagreus said, his smile brittle and his voice wilting. “I must have come at a bad time, I guess.” 

+1. 

After the Queen left, none dared to touch her garden for fear of incurring Lord Hades’ wrath. In those first years, it was as if he wished to banish the Queen’s name from everyone’s tongue. Even now, when anyone spoke of Persephone, it was with a furtive tone and lamentable air, a dream of summer long disappeared. 

At last, Megaera asked for and received permission to use the abandoned space for her colony. 

“It would be good for her space to hold life once more,” Nyx said, her voice fluttering like silk. “It is what she would have wanted. I will speak to Lord Hades.” 

The work of clearing the space was difficult, but Megaera did it all herself, mourning each withered stalk, the once-rich soil now coarse as sand. In their place, she installed her fledglings, baby bats, mewling and pink, who took milk when she could get it and blood when she could not. They thrived here in the way that Persephone’s greenery never could, and soon the cavern was filled with their sharp, delightful cries, the warm flurry of their excitement when she came to give feed. 

“W-wow! This is incredible! I can’t believe you did this all- hey!” Dusa snapped her head around as one of her snakes attempted to strike at a child who swooped too near, mistaking it for a meal on wings. “Sorry, Meg, I don’t know what’s gotten into them! I swear I just fed them!” 

Megaera laughed, comforting the terrified child who came to huddle in her hair. “That’ll teach you to be so curious,” she chided, smoothing her finger gently over the child’s stomach as she chirped indignantly. 

“That one seems to have grown attached to you,” Dusa said curiously. 

“Batty’s a troublemaker,” Megaera said fondly. “She only comes to me when she knows she’s done something wrong. There you go,” Megara took Batty on her hand and threw her towards the cloud of her siblings, “you’ve had your comfort, now stop bothering me.” 

Petulantly, Batty made a slow, swooping circle and landed back on Megaera’s shoulder, hiding once more in her hair. 

Dusa laughed as Megaera huffed. “Doesn’t she remind you of someone?” 

“Perhaps,” Megaera murmured evasively, allowing Batty to cling to her as she bent to her tasks. It was easy to be tender with Batty. She was so small, so fragile. She and her siblings _needed_ Megaera in a way no other being ever had, and had never minded the blood on her hands. 

Perhaps she did remind Megaera of someone, after all. 

On the other side of the cavern, Dusa was humming, dusting the cages even though Megaera had given her explicit instructions _not to do any work_. Stealthily, Megara untangled the small bat from her hair and pressed a soft kiss to her head.

**Author's Note:**

> my [tumblr](https://greyduckgreygoose.tumblr.com/tagged/myfic)


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